This invention relates to a current-carrying connection between two elongate conductors of an electrical installation, particularly a high-voltage switching installation with a metal encapsulation and a liquid or gaseous insulating medium having a greater dielectric strength than air at atmospheric pressure.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,170, such a current-carrying connection comprises radially oriented screws and a tubular shield, wherein the screw heads are disposed within the shield.
In high-voltage switching installations or high-voltage lines having metal encapsulations and insulated with compressed gas, tubular electrical conductors must be connected to each other in a longitudinal direction and the junction must be shielded dielectrically so that no distortion of the electric field occurs. In known screw connections, the tubular conductors are equipped with angular end pieces surrounded by tubular parts which form the shield with an overlap. The current-carrying connection itself is made by a flexible current-carrying ribbon arranged in the interior of the shield and bolted with radially oriented screws to the respective angular end pieces of the tubular conductors. The screws are disposed completely within the shield formed by the tubular parts. In such screw connections with a current carrying ribbon disposed inside a shield and with separate shielding elements, the shield elements must be connected on one side to the conductors and must be insulated from each other in order to avoid parallel current paths. This structure is disadvantageous with respect to the insulating strength of the system in certain operating states. In the known arrangement, the end pieces are welded to the ends of the conductors. Since the shield does not cover the weld seams, the welds must be made very carefully and subsequently ground to equalize the electric field.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved connection of two tubular or bar-like conductors of the above-described type.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a connection which is easy to assemble or form and which can be assembled at construction sites.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a connection which yields a good shielding at the joint.